HEADLINES

Phil Dawson

Contract Details: Munnerlyn, Dawson, McBride

March 14th, 2014 at 9:37am CST by Luke Adams

Here are a few extra details on contracts that have been agreed to and signed in recent days:

  • Captain Munnerlyn‘s three-year contract with the Vikings, initially reported to be worth $14.25MM, is actually worth $11.25MM, but another $3.3MM can be added through escalators and incentives, says Tom Pelissero of USA Today (via Twitter). The deal includes $4.45MM guaranteed in guaranteed money, but Pelissero tweets that due to a small signing bonus, it could potentially just turn into a one-year contract if 2014 doesn’t go well.
  • According to Pelissero (via Twitter), the two-year contract Phil Dawson signed with the 49ers is worth a total of $6.134MM and came with a $2MM signing bonus.
  • The two-year deal Trumaine McBride inked with the Giants is worth $2.875MM, with a $100K signing bonus and $900K in roster bonuses, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun.
  • Wilson (via Twitter) has Will Herring‘s one-year contract with the Cowboys as an $855K base salary plus a $65K signing bonus. That would seem to suggest it’s a minimum salary benefit deal, but Wilson says the total is $1.02MM, which indicates there’s another $100K in bonuses somewhere. Either way, $300K of the deal is guaranteed, says Wilson.
  • According to Wilson (via Twitter), Phil Costa‘s contract with the Colts features base salaries of $1.2MM (2014) and $1.5MM (2015), with no bonuses. $450K of Costa’s first-year salary is guaranteed.
  • Wilson adds (via Twitter) that Henry Hynoski‘s $1MM contract with the Giants includes a $250K signing bonus.
  • Although we heard yesterday that Chris Williams‘ contract with the Bills included a 2016 “trigger point,” when Williams was owed a significant roster bonus, the deal has been modified since being entered in the NFLPA system, says ESPN.com’s Mike Rodak. Instead of having a $1.5MM signing bonus and $2.5MM roster bonus in ’16, the deal now features a $3.5MM signing bonus and $250K roster bonus.

49ers, Dawson Agree To New Deal

March 11th, 2014 at 1:43pm CST by Zachary Links

Kicker Phil Dawson announced via Twitter that he has reached agreement on a new deal with the 49ers, according to Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com. Dawson adds that it’s a two-year pact (link).

Dawson, 39, set the 49ers franchise record with 27 consecutive made field goals. He made 32 of 36 attempts during the regular season in 2013 and was 7-for-7 in the postseason, including a 33-yard field goal as time expired to beat the Packers in the playoffs. The 15-year veteran holds the NFL record in accuracy of (84.5 percent) among all kickers with at least 300 made field goals in his career.

NFC West Notes: 49ers, Quinn, Cardinals

March 8th, 2014 at 12:25pm CST by Matt Feminis

The 49ers have big-money decisions to make, while the Cardinals eye offensive line help in a batch of NFC West division tidbits:

  • Last season, 49ers cornerback Carlos Rogers declined a pay cut, but the team had no recourse because they needed him on the field. A year later, the team is prepared to release Rogers if he does not agree to a pay cut, as the veteran is scheduled to earn a $6.25MM base salary and count nearly $8.1MM against the cap, writes Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area. Releasing Rogers after June 1 would save $6.6 on the 2014 cap, but the team would incur $1.5MM in dead money on the 2015 cap. If the team swallowed the entire cap hit in 2014, the immediate cap savings would be $5.1MM with no dead money in future years.
  • The escalating salary cap helps the 49ers long-term, especially given the team’s desire to retain 2015 free agents Colin Kaepernick, Aldon Smith, Michael Crabtree and Mike Iupati, but the extra $10MM the rest of the league has to play with in the short term could make it difficult to retain this year’s free agents, including Donte Whitner, Tarell Brown and Phil Dawson, writes Eric Branch of sfgate.com.
  • Robert Quinn is entering the final year of his four-year rookie contract, but a provision in the new CBA (instituted in 2011 when Quinn was drafted 14th overall) allows the Rams to keep the reigning Defensive Player of the Year through 2015, notes Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. By virtue of Quinn being selected between No. 11 overall to No. 32, the team can pay Quinn the average salary made by the third- through 25th-highest paid players at the defensive end position ($6.9MM).
  • The Cardinals are targeting Branden Albert and Rodger Saffold in that order, according to Kent Somers of azcentral.com (via Twitter).

West Notes: Woodson, Dawson, Tate, Schwartz

February 28th, 2014 at 10:38pm CST by Rob DiRe

The Jaguars aren’t the only team that are getting the short end of the stick with the surprisingly high salary cap, as the Raiders now have a whopping $66.512MM in cap space according to OverTheCap.com. While the Raiders will get a little extra cap room, the new cap number mitigates the team’s advantage this offseason, writes Nick Gill of SportsMedia101.com. The extra cap room will allow the 31 other franchises more flexibility to re-sign their own free agents, so the Raiders will never be able to court them in the open market. It also will give other teams more money to compete with the Raiders for the free agents that do become available this offseason.

Here are some other notes from our two divisions out west:

  • One of the seemingly easy moves for the Raiders was thought to be re-signing Charles Woodson, but the contract talks have been rougher than expected, writes Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com. After receiving $3.3MM in salary and incentives in 2013, Woodson believes he has proven he is still a valuable NFL safety. While Woodson wants to play, he said he would consider retirement if the price was not right.
  • Staying in the bay area, the 49ers have seen a market unfold for signing kicker Phil Dawson, writes Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. With Nick Folk being franchised and Graham Gano getting a long-term deal, both kickers will be making north of $3MM per season. Dawson has been better than both kickers over the past two seasons.
  • While the 49ers work on retaining their kicker, their rival Seahawks have cleared cap space and have opened up some space that could be used on receiver Golden Tate, according to Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. “Hopefully, I can call Seattle home for a few more years,” said Tate. “But we’ll see. I know that coach (Pete) Carroll has expressed that he would like to have me on the team, and I have expressed that I would like to stay on this team because I see this team winning for a long time. But we will see. Only time will tell.’’
  • The Chiefs met with the representation of guard Geoff Schwartz during the scouting combine, writes Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star. The Chiefs are interested in retaining Schwartz, but Paylor writes that the two are not close to an agreement. Schwartz played in 14 games in 2013, filling in at both guard and tackle.

49ers Links: Kaepernick, Free Agents, Dawson

February 11th, 2014 at 12:57pm CST by Luke Adams

After seeing the Seahawks handily dispatch the Broncos in the Super Bowl this month, the 49ers likely felt as if they were a Richard Sherman deflection away from being champions themselves. They’ll aim for a different result next season, but before they do, there are several roster decisions facing the club. Let’s take a look at a few of them….

  • In an Insider-only piece, ESPN.com’s Mike Sando takes an in-depth look at Colin Kaepernick‘s next contract with the 49ers. While conventional wisdom dictates that the team would be wise to lock up its quarterback as soon as possible, sources who spoke to Sando didn’t get the impression that San Francisco considers Kaepernick “irreplaceable” yet, suggesting that the club could wait on a new deal. If the two sides do work out an agreement with offseason, Sando expects it to be something in the neighborhood of $45MM for three years.
  • Wide receiver Anquan Boldin, safety Donte Whitner and cornerback Tarell Brown are among the 2013 starters who the 49ers would like to re-sign, but none of them appears to be a realistic candidate for the franchise tag, writes Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com. While Boldin and Whitner were key contributors in San Francisco this past season, the projected franchise salaries of approximately $11.5MM for receivers and $8MM for safeties are likely a little too pricey for the Niners.
  • Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk explains why using the franchise tag on kicker Phil Dawson isn’t a viable option for the 49ers. Having already been franchised twice, Dawson would be eligible to earn the franchise salary for a quarterback rather than a kicker if he were tagged.

NFC Notes: Bennett, Kuhn, Redskins

January 27th, 2014 at 7:34pm CST by Ben Levine

A couple of notes from around the NFC on this Monday evening…

NFC Rumors: 49ers, Bucs, Burleson, Falcons

January 20th, 2014 at 3:37pm CST by Luke Adams

A day after being eliminated from the postseason by the Seahawks, the 49ers are already looking ahead to the offseason. Kicker Phil Dawson and center Jonathan Goodwin both expressed interest in re-signing with San Francisco, according to Steve Corkran of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter links). The team is also in talks with McLeod Bethel-Thompson about a return for the backup QB, and has signed defensive lineman Lawrence Okoye and wide receiver Devon Wylie to futures deals, according to Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee (Twitter links).

Here’s more from around the NFC:

  • All indications right now suggest that the Buccaneers are deciding between Jason Licht of the Cardinals and Marc Ross of the Giants as their next general manager, reports Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports 1 (via Twitter). Falcons vice president of player personnel Lionel Vital, who had been in the running for the Bucs job, told D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution today that he’ll remain in Atlanta.
  • Nate Burleson acknowledges he’ll likely have to restructure his contract in order to return to the Lions next season, but he hopes to play out his deal and eventually retire in Detroit, as Eric Lacy of MLive.com details.
  • The Falcons have interest in bringing back offensive lineman Mike Johnson, but only at the right price, tweets Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com.
  • The Seahawks and 49ers are among the early favorites to come out of the NFC a year from now, but both teams will have multiple players in line for raises before then. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk takes a look at a few offseason issues for the NFC’s top two teams.